Not Just A Paper Company
by QuintossentialGray
Summary: Heroes done in the style of The Office. So picture the characters of Heroes working together at Primatech Paper in Odessa. There are awkward tensions, unrequited love and yes...there will be Mylar to come. Later chapters will bring the violence and smut.


A fax machine beeped and chirped in the corner of a very beige colored office. Phones ring and a large industrial copy machine hummed and whirred as the occasional flash of light flickered out of it. Inside of the nondescript office a man sits behind a desk wearing a light gray suit, dark black shoes and a pair of horn-rimmed glasses. He watched as the documentary crew set up around his office and in the main room itself. Lights being adjusted and mics handed out and put on various members of the staff. There was a crew setting up in his office, a producer sat and talked with him about how this goes. The rules of shooting, of contact with the crew, and basically the expectations therein.

"So...Scranton, huh? I've been there a few times."

The man's eyes narrowed, he arched a brow, and leaned forward behind his desk.

"For...business reasons. They have quite the wild convention there."

A slow smile spread on his face as the producer nodded. His crew had just wrapped shooting at Dunder-Mifflin in Scranton, Pennsylvania. There had been a nationwide search for the next company to cover. They even considered going international with a paper company in Slough, England. But one of their sources uncovered Primatech Paper in the town of Odessa, Texas.

After a few phone calls with the acting head of the Company, Bob Bishop, it was all set up that Primatech Paper would be the next to be covered for the paper company documentary series. Today was their first day of shooting so there were the preliminary interviews to do, get a sense of where the stories could be found in this branch. A producer flipped through a file with photos and information on various staff members. It's quite an eclectic group of people with a lot of differing backgrounds. It could be ripe for some great footage.

"Okay Mr. Bennett, this will be the last time that you and I speak. Once this thing starts, I can have no contact with you. It's a major conflict of interest, you understand."

Bennett leaned forward behind his desk and nodded, smiling.

"Of course, that's perfectly understandable. I must warn you though that...you may see some things here that you did not in Scranton."

He raised his right brow and his gray-blue eyes shimmered just a bit.

"You'll see that this is no ordinary paper company."

A jaded expression on the producer's face as he nodded. Everyone always says something to that effect about their branch. He'd heard it countless times and had yet to actually see one company that lives up to that. The man reached into his messenger bag and retrieved some documents. Waivers, mostly for the crew to have the kind of access that they would require. After Bennett signed them the crew started to disseminate all over the office to find their angle, their hook.

As they mill about, getting wary glances from the rather uncomfortable staff, they decide to start their coverage on a young man. In his late twenties, dark short hair, brown eyes, wearing a white shirt and crisp red tie. He had somewhat of a puppy dog look in those eyes until he starts to speak, his voice is stronger than expected upon first glance.

**Paper is...well it's not my life I'll tell you that much. I have other aspirations but well, my brother Nathan got me this job for the moment. Oh um, Nathan Petrelli, yes the Congressman."**

**A shy crooked smile twisted Peter's lips as he moved a hand back through his hair, blushing slightly. **

"**Sitting in a cubicle, it's not where I saw myself at twenty-six I'll tell you that much. But..."**

Peter moved and organized his sales sheets for the day, his brown eyes dart slowly over to the receptionist's desk and the spunky, blonde girl as she spoke into a headset. Vibrant blue eyes dart back to meet his with a quick wink then both look away again.

**"...there are perks to being here that make it easier to handle."**

After Peter made that little motion to Elle Bishop, Branch Head Robert Bishop's daughter, another man entered the room. Tall, dark hair parted severely to the side, and a pair of glasses pushed up a little too far on the bridge of his nose. He wore a gray vest over a white dress shirt, khaki slacks and black dress shoes. The posture he carried was that of a man who wanted to protect himself from the rest of the world. Slightly hunched, raised shoulders, tunnel-vision gaze and a shuffling stride when he walked. He carried with him a small black briefcase held tight in his left hand, close to his body as he made his way across the room.

Before he could make it to his desk, he was accosted or rather that's what it appeared as another man stepped in front of him. This man was shorter, an Indian man with rich-hued curly hair and soft brown eyes. He glanced up at the taller man and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Now Gabriel, I'm rather sure that I told you I wanted those expense reports on my desk before you left last night. Yet, here I am this morning and my desktop was completely bare."

To accent his point, the shorter man gestured behind them in the corner to a clutch of desks separated only by cubicle walls. Sure enough the desk was empty save for a mug that had a couple a pencils and a stapler at the edge.

"As head of the accounting department, it's _my_ responsibility to make sure that these financial affairs regarding staff expenses are taken care of. Gabriel, I can't do my job if you don't do yours."

As Gabriel got scolded, nay nagged at, he pursed his lips and nodded along with every word that the other man said. A flush of color in his pale, narrow cheeks every time he was admonished with his first name. When the other man finally paused to let him explain himself, it took a lot of self-control on Gabriel's part to not scoff in the man's face.

"Mohinder, I will have my expense report ready for you this morning, how is that?"

Caramel hands came out and smoothed his pale yellow shirt, he straightened the mauve paisley tie that hung down from around his shirt collar. One hand moved from his tie to his forehead as he rubbed his temples with thumb and index finger, he exhaled slowly.

"Fine...fine Gabriel, but if you don't have it to me by this afternoon I'll be forced to bring this issue to Mr. Bennett. Do you understand me?"

Mohinder reached out and poked a caramel finger into Gabriel's shoulder to further make his point. Gabriel stopped and stared at the finger on him for a moment then nodded down at him.

**"...He doesn't even need those reports until Friday and yet he acts like I'm somehow personally attacking him by taking my time on them."**

**Gabriel Gray's face turned into a slight smirk then it disappeared as quickly it came.**

**"He must enjoy that...what little power he can wield over other people's heads. Mohinder knows nothing of what real power is and he shouldn't act like he does."**

**The man got quiet his eyes shone, glittering darkly as he thought of something that made his lips give a thin smile.**

**"...Power breeds respect and those who wield it are loved _and_ feared. Throughout history that's been shown. Yes there are those who say it corrupts, but what's the price of a soul when you can do anything you've dreamed of? Have everything that you've always wanted?"**

**Rhetoric questions that Gabriel posed while looking straight into the camera. For a moment too long, he stared after he spoke. Then a small chuckle came out followed by a thoughtful smile that broke through the obvious tension in the room. **

**"Now I'm just going to make him wait another day for those reports, show him who really has the power here."**

Peter sat at his desk , rocking back in his chair making it squeak some. EEK...EEK...Eek! Gabriel's eyes darted over to his desk mate. A low annoyed groan that nearly turned into a growl escaped his lips as he lifted his head up.

"Peter...must you squeak your chair? Can't you just sit there and do your work in quiet without having to have all the attention on yourself by being an annoyance?"

He huffed out an annoyed sigh and crossed his arms, staring at Peter. His response was a look of faux-innocence.

"Oh, I'm sorry Gabe...I didn't even realize that I was doing it."

Peter chuckled softly and shook his head, shrugging some as he sat still again. As Gabriel started clacking away he heard a soft squeaking again. His head snapped back up, glasses sliding down and pushed back up with a quick index finger push. Dark eyes glared at Peter but he was perfectly still, working at his desk. He turned away from his screen and gave a pleasant smile.

"Yes? Can I help you with something?"

Gabriel pursed his lips and growled , annoyed under his breath as he went back to work. Over behind the receptionist's desk, Elle continued to squeak her chair every so often.

**"One of the best ways to pass the time around here is to annoy Gabriel"**

**She smiled with a slight scrunch of her nose, a glint in her eyes that just screamed mischief. **

**"Peter and I have been doing it for a while now. Stealing his glasses, changing his screensaver, making fake sales calls...he just ...oh he takes it so amusingly. I mean one time oh one time, see...Gabriel has this clock that he keeps on the corner of his desk. I know, right? Who needs a clock on their desk? Anyways, whenever Gabe would get up either Peter or I would take it and wind it so it was off. We moved from too fast to too slow to completely off. And, every time he'd be working and then just..."**

**She tensed her body like she'd been hit in the face, a twitch even. A slow, smirky smile on her lips as she went on, leaning back in the chair.**

"**...and he'd grab it and fix it back. We did it for about 6 hours until he realized that it was us and he wasn't just going insane. Peter said he heard him mumble something to himself about 'the ticking, it's off it has to be _fixed'. _But yeah it's doing stuff like that with Peter that makes being here not so bad."**

**Elle smiled, her eyes blank as she flashed to some far-off memory. A soft blushing of her cheeks until she snapped back out of it then smiled softly again.**

Peter's eyes lit up as he heard that Elle had taken over the chair-squeaking.

**"She told you about that? Oh, heh yeah that was fun. Elle's a great girl, no pretensions. It's not just anyone who'll hold a co-worker's glasses for you without telling them or looking at you like you're crazy."**

**Peter got the same moonstruck look in his face that Elle did when talking about him. A crooked grin, flushed cheeks and his eyes glittered some. The producer asked him a question.**

**"...Huh, what no,no."**

**He shook his head, laughing and his brown eyes got a little sad.**

**"Elle and I are just friends...co-workers. She, well she's seeing someone. I haven't met him yet but she talks about him, Adam. Apparently he's an executive at another branch. ...I'm happy for her, of course. Why wouldn't I be?"**

Peter leaned against the counter of the reception area. His elbows on the counter-top as he chatted with Elle. She giggled and glanced over at Gabriel's desk then back to him as they waited for it. Soon enough Gabriel reached for his stapler to attach some documents together.

All he got was an empty clacking as the spring stretched back and forth and his paper remained marked with a dent from the pressure, but no staple. He reached up and practically threw his glasses off of his face and onto the desk. Peering in as he opened the stapler up, just as he thought, it was empty. Something that wasn't so just yesterday.

"Peter! Have you been using my stapler again? I asked you not to. I just filled it yesterday and it's empty now!"

Quickly he stood and marched over to the receptionist's area. He glared at Elle then at Peter in turn. How typical that these two just happened to be here talking instead of working, yet again. Gabriel pointed his finger at Peter.

"I assume that you have something to do with this or...or _she_ does. Now I'm going to go back to my desk and you better hope that my screensaver is the same it was this morning."

He quirked a brow at Elle then glared at Peter again before he turned on his heel and walked back to the desk.

**"Those two are insufferable. Everyday I have to deal with their hi-jinks and I...it's just completely uncalled for."**

A few hours later, Mr. Bennett emerged from his office and walked out into the center of the room. He clasped his hands together and smiled a closemouthed smirk, eyebrows raised.

"Alright everybody, staff meeting. In the conference room, five minutes."

He turned and left back to his office, door closed behind him.

Everyone just sat there unmoving until it was time. Then with a collective, reluctant sigh they all stood up and filed off to have yet another staff meeting at Primatech paper, the cameras of course followed.


End file.
